Levante take on Huesca on Tuesday evening looking to build on their surprise 3-1 victory over previous La Liga leaders Real Sociedad at the weekend.
Meanwhile, Huesca head into this contest on the back of a 2-0 reverse at Athletic Bilbao, leaving the minnows with just one win from 14 matches this season.
Match preview
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Ahead of their second-ever campaign in La Liga, Michel and his squad would have swiftly taken eight draws from 14 matches had it been offered to them back in September.
While that run of stalemates has kept Oscenses within touching distance of getting out of trouble, recording just one success has left them at risk of being sucked further into danger.
Despite being on a high after the triumph over Alaves and comeback victory in the Copa del Rey, Huesca's confidence would have taken a hit in the 2-0 reverse in Bilbao.
The decisive goals came in the closing five minutes of the contest, and Michel has a task on his hands to lift his players ahead of what is arguably their most important game of the season so far.
Michel will almost certainly hand a recall to Rafa Mir for this game, the Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee having dropped down to the substitutes' bench after his hat-trick against Marchamolo last week.
From Levante's perspective, two wins from their last three outings means that they have the strongest momentum out of all the clubs in the bottom half of the table.
Even during the 1-0 defeat at Barcelona, which came in between the wins over Getafe and Sociedad, this squad of players suggested that they have no business being close to the relegation zone if they perform to their maximum.
Now under the guidance of recently-appointed head coach Alessio Lisci, Granotas are now within another victory of moving into the top half of the table for the first time in months.
While scoring five times against Racing Murcia in the Copa del Rey will only increase the belief in the final third, Levante have long been on an improving trajectory with their only defeat during a nine-game period being the narrow reverse at Camp Nou.
Huesca La Liga form: DDLDWL
Huesca form (all competitions): DLDWWL
Levante La Liga form: DDDWLW
Levante form (all competitions): DDWLWW
Team News
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Huesca will be without Jorge Pulido, who serves a one-match ban for his two yellow cards against Athletic.
Pablo Insua is expected to take his place, while Shinji Okazaki will likely drop out of the team to accommodate the return of Mir.
As for Levante, Rober Pier could be handed just his second start of the season after being introduced as a second-half substitute against Sociedad.
Having scored the decisive goal at the weekend, Jorge de Frutos will expect to take the place of Jose Luis Morales on the left flank.
Huesca possible starting lineup:
Fernandez; Lopez, Insua, Siovas, Galan; Rico, Mosquera, Garcia; Ferreiro, Mir, Ontiveros
Levante possible starting lineup:
Fernadez; Miramon, Pier, Vezo, Clerc; Rochina, Vukcevic, Malsa, De Frutos; Marti, Gomez
We say: Huesca 1-1 Levante
When you combine their respective totals, these two sides have recorded 13 draws in 27 matches this season. Given the small margins for error in the lower half of the standings, both teams would likely accept another stalemate at this stage of the campaign.
Top betting tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Huesca win with a probability of 36.24%. A win for Levante had a probability of 35.83% and a draw had a probability of 27.9%.
The most likely scoreline for a Huesca win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.16%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (7.79%) and 2-0 (6.62%). The likeliest Levante win was 0-1 (11.08%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.14%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with a 13.1% likelihood.
